Travel Trends: Top Hot Spots — by Lakshman Ratnapala

Americans are expected to take 322 million domestic leisure trips this summer according to a forecast by the US Travel Association (USTA).   They will take an average of two trips, stay about seven nights away from home and spend more than $900 on the longest trip.

Do you know where the favorite hot spots of these summer travelers are?  A survey by the American Society of Travel Agents (ASTA) shows that Orlando and Las Vegas are the most popular summer destinations booked by their agents.  San Francisco took third place followed by Los Angeles and Miami.  Rounding out the top ten domestic cities are Honolulu, San Diego, Washington DC, Chicago and New York.  The top five cities have remained the same since 2006 but travelers have taken a big bite off the Big Apple sending it falling from the number three spot it held for five consecutive years, 2003 to 2007 and then from seventh place last year to tenth spot this year.  Honolulu moved up from number eight last year to number six in this year’s survey.

The fact that the top ten cities have remained the same for several years is testimony to their enduring popularity.  Although a decline of 2.2 percent from last year, summer travel remains resilient in the current economic climate.  This resilience is good news for the travel industry and the American economy.  While Americans are still watching their travel budgets and other discretionary spending, more than half of them still expect to spend about the same amount on their summer vacations this year.

For Americans traveling abroad, Western Europe is the most popular destination with seven cities there  among the top ten.  London came on top followed by Rome and Paris. Mexico was also popular with Cancun coming in at fourth place.  Punta Cana was fifth while Puerto Vallarta took the sixth spot.  Rounding out the top ten international cities were Barcelona, Venice, Florence and Amsterdam.

Italy remained the top foreign country booked by U.S. travel agents.  Mexico was second and the U.K. third having fallen from second place last year.  The volume of bookings for both Italy and UK was less than last year, suggesting the weak dollar is shifting some travel away from Europe with Mexico and other locations benefitting.

Resilient though the travel industry is, the bottom line is that Americans could spend $30 billion less on leisure trips this spring and summer.  Seeing the storm coming and hustling to respond, airlines scheduled 8.5 percent fewer seats for spring break time in April and 8.4 percent fewer again for June, according to the Official Airline Guide (OAG).

– Lakshman Ratnapala